PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 18 Rutgers men's lacrosse is set for the final regular season home game this Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights will host No. 14 Michigan at noon. The game will be on Big Ten Network with Jason Knapp and Mark Dixon on the call. It will be Senior Day, with 11 seniors honored in pregame ceremonies, as well as Alumni Appreciation Day – with RU honoring the anniversaries of the 1955, 1975 and 1990 teams.
 

About Rutgers

Rutgers enters the matchup at 6-6 overall and are 2-1 in Big Ten play. After opening the season with a 3-4 mark, RU is 3-2 since March 11, including two ranked wins in Big Ten play, with its only losses coming to ranked teams. The Scarlet Knights opened league play with an 11-8 win over No. 11 Johns Hopkins, then battled No. 3 Ohio State on the road in a two-goal defeat before earning an 8-6 win over No. 2 Maryland.

The Scarlet Knights are 16^th in this week's NCAA RPI (and 18 in the Media and Coaches Polls). RU has wins over No. 2 (Maryland) and No. 15 (Johns Hopkins) in the RPi, with losses to No. 1 (Princeton), No. 8 (Army), No. 11 (Ohio State) and No. 14 (St. Joe's).

Rutgers is holding opponents to an 80.8% percent clearing percentage, best in the league and 12^th nationally. RU is also top-15 nationally in scoring defense (10^th, 8.58), faceoff winning percentage (14^th, 57.3%) and clearing percentage (14^th, 88.4%).

Cardin Stoller's save percentage of 58.7% is 10^th nationally. Matthew Paolatto is 13^th in the country, winning 59.6% of faceoffs.

Defensively, RU has four players with 10 or more caused turnovers: Tommy Mendkye (16), Ryan Splaine (14), Ben Stephanos (12) and Joe Juengerkes (10).

Offensively, RU has five players between 10 and 17 goals: Colin Kurdyla (17), Colin Kelly (14), Shane Murphy (11), JJ Aiello (10) and Colin Zeller (10). All of RU's top-eight goal scorers are in their first or second season seeing game action as a Scarlet Knight, as well as 11 of the top 12 goal scorers.

Historic Win over No. 2 Maryland

Last time out, Rutgers defeated No. 2 Maryland by an 8-6 final score. The win was the first victory for RU over Maryland since 1980, and also marked the highest ranked foe defeated by the program. The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Terps after the first quarter, then held on for the victory.

Defense Leads the Way to Win over Terps

Some notes on the defensive performance in the win over Maryland:

• It was the fewest goals allowed by RU in a Big Ten game since a 14-6 win over Ohio State in 2019.  
• It was just the second time Maryland has been held to 6 or fewer goals in a Big Ten regular season game since joining the league in 2015.
• Tied for the lowest goal total against while playing a ranked team for RU since 2017 – only done four times in that span in a total of 59 games versus ranked teams.
• The 6 goals allowed were the lowest total goals against in a conference game this season (6 goals or less has only happened in a Big Ten regular season game 3 other times over the past three seasons)
• Held Maryland 5.5 goals below their season average.
• Maryland was 0-of-3 on the extra-man despite having no. 2 man-up offense in league entering at 44% conversions.

Big Win = Big Awards

Following the win over Maryland:

• Cardin Stoller (14 saves, 4 Ground Balls, 1 Caused Turnover, 1 Goal Scored) was named the USA Lacrosse National Player of the Week, Lacrosse Network National Player of the Week, LaxReference "Brick Wall" Goalkeeper of the Week and the Big Ten Specialist of the Week.
• Ryan Splaine (3 Ground Balls, 1 Caused Turnover, Held Maryland's top two midfielders to zero goals) was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
• Colin Zeller (3 Goals) was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

Senior Day

The Scarlet Knights will honor 11 seniors in a pregame ceremony. Rutgers will honor the following 11 student-athletes who will earn either their undergraduate or graduate degree: Dante Kulas, Colin Kelly, Ethan Barnard, Logan Peters, Joe Juengerkes, Brian Mack, Ben McKelvy, Matthew Paolatto, Tommy Mendyke, Justin Lawler and Ben Stephanos.
 

Alumni Appreciation Day

As per annual tradition, Rutgers will welcome back and honor program alumni during the final home game of the regular season. This year RU will honor the 1955, 1975 and 1990 teams at halftime. The 1955 team was the Laurie Cox Division Champions, while the 1975 and 1990 teams made the NCAA Tournament.

Jersey Recognition

Rutgers will have special jersey nameplates in honor of three of the program's alumni that have recently passed away. Rutgers nameplates on the back of the jersey will read either "Andrews", "Orrizzi" or "Kielb", in honor of three program alumns that recently passed away.

Bob Andrews was a two-time All-American who played on the 1955 team that will be recognized. A member of the Rutgers Hall of Fame and the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame, he is fourth all-time at RU in assists (111) along with playing in the North/South Game. Andrews was a team captain in 1956, leading the team to a 9-1 record and No. 3 final national ranking. He passed away in June of 2023.

Jack Orrizzi was a team captain in 1970 who also played football at Rutgers. Orrizzi later worked for the US Government as a Secret Service field agent. He passed away in December of 2024.

Steve Kielb played at Rutgers in 1992 and 1993, helping the team earn a conference championship, and also competing against his brother Richard while he played at Ohio State. He later became a lacrosse coach at West Morris Central High School He passed away in December of 2024 at just 53 years old.
 

About the Series

Rutgers is 10-1 all-time against Michigan, dating back to 2012. RU lost in Ann Arbor in 2015 in the first ever meeting of the two teams as Big Ten foes. Since then, Rutgers has won nine straight, including a 6-0 all-time record at home against the Wolverines.

Michigan was the lone Big Ten team defeated for RU in each of the past two seasons, highlighting the program's league slate each year. The last four meetings between the teams have been decided by one or two goals. On the road last season, Cardin Stoller was the standout with 19 saves in a 9-7 win. In 2023, RU earned an overtime victory over the Wolverines, winning 13-12 on a Shane Knobloch game-winner. In 2022, it was another one-goal game, with RU withstanding a late push from Michigan, winning 13-12. The final meeting in 2021 to cap the regular season in Ann Arbor was another 13-12 Scarlet Knights win. Prior to that last meeting in 2021, RU had outscored Michigan by 31 goals over the previous five games.
 

About Michigan

The Wolverines enter the matchup at 6-5 record overall and are 2-1 in Big Ten play, also owning a win over Maryland (in triple overtime) and Johns Hopkins along with a loss to Penn State last weekend.

Michigan is ninth nationally in caused turnovers per game (10.0) and 16^th in scoring defense (9.27). Ryan Cohen leads the Big Ten in assists per game (2.0) with a team-best 36 points.

Lukas Stanat and Aidan Mulholland lead the team at 17 goals. Jack Rideout is 62-of-137 on faceoffs (45.2%). Goalkeeper Hunter Taylor has saved 50.5% of shots with a 9.45 goals-against-average.

Michigan assistant coach Scott Bieda, a Bridgewater, N.J. native, was an All-American attackman at Rutgers, being named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2016.
 

With a Win

• Fourth ranked win of the season (No. 2 Maryland, No. 11 Johns Hopkins and No. 20 Lehigh).
• 10^th straight win over Michigan (11-1 overall)

 

Up Next

Rutgers will hit the road for the final regular season game. The team plays at No. 8 Penn State on Friday at 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network.